3D printing has evolved over the last decade from a technology only accessible to big manufacturers to one that is achievable in the home office. It is becoming increasingly more affordable and offers a fast means of product creation. However, the ethics, legalities and moralities of 3D printing are becoming increasingly relevant as the speed of innovation surpasses regulation. Here are 10 forms of 3D printing that demonstrate that 3D printing will become as regular as other forms of manufacturing in the years to come.
1. Bioprinting in Health Science
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Researchers at North Carolina's Wake Forest University have created a 3D bioprinter that can produce organs, tissues and bones that could theoretically be implanted into living humans. Researchers from Wake Forest University have created muscle, bone, and ear structures using plastic-like materials and living cells from humans, rabbits, rats, and mice. Amazingly, the living cells survived the 3D printing process. The researchers also successfully implanted their 3D-printed structures into rodents. If the technology works as well for humans as it does on rodents, doctors may be able to use a patient’s own cells to print them a new bone, muscle, or piece of cartilage one day.
This was proceeded by a printer that was able to print artificial skin. Various cell types were placed in the wells of an actual ink cartridge and a printer was programmed to arrange the cells in a pre-determined order. Currently, researchers are using an adapted version of ink-jet printing technology to enable on-site "printing" of skin for soldiers with life-threatening burns. In this technology, "skin cells would be placed directly into a print cartridge, along with essential materials to support them, and would be printed directly on the soldier's wound at the site of the wound."
The notion of a skull implant seems like something out of science fiction but last year doctors in China were able to save the life of a baby with hydrocephalus by 3D printing and implanting a titanium skull in three pieces. 3D printed titanium is strong, lightweight, and can be designed to perfectly fit the patient.
2. Drug Printing
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Recently US-based Aprecia Pharmaceuticals released the world’s first 3D printed drug, Spritam, a drug to treat seizures in epileptic patients. The printing comes from MIT produced technology using the company’s trademark ZipDose technology. Produced using technology by sandwiching a powdered form of the drug between liquid materials and bonding them at a microscopic level, the printed pills dissolve rapidly on contact with liquids.
3D drug printing is a huge step towards personalised medicine. Alteration of a pill's surface area through printing means that the size, dose, appearance and rate of delivery of a drug can be designed to suit an individual. In the future this could mean on-demand drug-printing facilities at clinics, hospitals and pharmacies, or even in patients’ homes.
Continue reading %10 Examples of 3D Printing Transforming Our Reality%
by Cate Lawrence via SitePoint
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